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Hippopotamuses ( Hippopotamus amphibius ) are big , round , water - loving animals that are native to Africa . The intelligence " hippo " comes from the Hellenic word for " piss horse " or " river horse , " although hippos and horses are n’t closely related . The closest living congeneric to hippos are pigs , whales and dolphinfish , according to theSan Diego Zoo .
Size
Common hippopotamus , also have it off as river hippos , are very obese animals and are the third largest living land mammal , afterelephantsand whiterhinos , according tothe African Wildlife Foundation . They develop to between 10.8 and 16.5 feet ( 3.3 and 5 cadence ) farseeing and up to 5.2 human foot ( 1.6 m ) tall at the shoulder joint . The fair female weighs around 3,000 lbs . ( 1,400 kilograms ) , while males weigh 3,500 to 9,920 lb . ( 1,600 to 4,500 kg ) , according to the San Diego Zoo .
These tremendous creature are related to the much smaller and rarer pygmy hippo ( Choeropsis liberiensis ) , which only raise to be 2.5 to 3.2 feet ( 0.75 to 1 m ) tall and about 5 to 6 feet ( 1.5 to 1.75 molarity ) long , according to theSan Diego Zoo . Pygmy hippos can weigh between 350 and 600 pound . ( 160 and 270 kg ) .
Habitat and behavior
vulgar hippopotamus live in sub - Saharan Africa . They hold out in region with abundant water , as they spend most of their clock time submerged to keep their pelt cool and moist . debate amphibious brute , hippos spend up to 16 hours per day in the water , according toNational Geographic .
Hippos are social beasts , hanging out in groups telephone schools , bloat , pods or besieging . Schools of hippos usually lie of 10 to 30 members , include both female and males , although some group have as many as 200 soul . No matter the size , the schooltime is unremarkably pass by a dominant male person , according to the San Diego Zoo .
Hippos are forte animals . Their razzing , grumbling and wheeze have been measured at 115 decibels , according to the San Diego Zoo — about the same volume you ’d hear when 15 invertebrate foot ( 4.6 m ) from the utterer at a rock concert . The animate being ' signature noise , called the " wheeze honk , " can be heard from more than half a mile ( 1 klick ) away , Live Science antecedently reported . These booming creatures also apply subsonic vox to pass along .
A hippopotamus in the water with a bird on its back.
Hippos are aggressiveand are moot very severe . They have large teeth and tusks that they use for struggle off threat , including human . Sometimes , their unseasoned fall dupe to grownup hippos ' snappishness . During a fight between two adult , a young hippo caught in the middle can be gravely hurt or even crushed , according toPBS .
Though hippos move easy through the water , they ca n’t actually swim . According to the San Diego Zoo , these animals glide through the water by pushing themselves off other object . And they can stay submerged for up to 5 minutes without come up for melody , consort to National Geographic .
Hungry, hungry hippos
Hippos have a healthy and mostlyherbivorous appetence . adult eat about 80 lbs . ( 35 kilogram ) of grass each dark , locomote up to 6 mile ( 10 klick ) in a night to get their filling . They also eat fruit that they find during their nightly scavenging , fit in to National Geographic . If food is scarce , hippos can store food in their stomachs and go up to three workweek without eat .
Although hippos were long believe to be exclusively herbivorous , in a 2015 report published in the journalMammal Review , scientists reported that hippos on occasion bung on the carcase of animals , including other hippos .
Baby hippos
Female hippos have a gestation period menstruation of eight months and have only one infant at a metre , according to the San Diego Zoo . At birth , the calf weighs between 50 and 110 pound . ( 23 and 50 kilo ) . For its first eight months , the calf nurse while its mother is on Din Land , or it swims subaquatic to breastfeed . When it plunge , the calf closes its nose and pinna to block out water . All hippos have this ability . Hippos also have membranes that cover and protect their eye while they are submerged .
At 5 to 7 years sure-enough , a hippo calf is to the full mature , grant to the San Diego Zoo . The average life span of a hippo in the natural state or in immurement can vagabond from about 40 to 61 , according to theUniversity of Michigan ’s Animal Diversity Web .
Related : What fauna has the long pregnancy ?
Hippos have big teeth. Don’t mess with them.
Attacks on humans
The hippo is believe the world ’s deadliest enceinte estate mammal . These semiaquatic giant kill an estimated 500 people per year in Africa , according to theBBC . Hippos are extremely strong-growing and are well - equip to deliver considerable damage to anything that wanders into their soil .
For example , in 2014 , a hippo attacked a pocket-size , unsuspecting boat filled with Nigerian school day child , kill 12 scholar and one instructor on dining table , ABC News report . fight between humans and hippos also come about when hippos wander onto land in hunt of food .
Conservation status
According to theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN ) , the common hippo is n’t endangered , but it is vulnerable to extinction . The IUCN estimates that between 115,000 and 130,000 coarse hippos stay in the wild . Poaching and home ground loss reduced the hippo ’s globular numbers during the late nineties and early 2000s , but the universe has since plateaued thanks to stricter law enforcement , according to the IUCN .
Invasive hippos
infamous drug lordPablo Escobar famously kept hippos , giraffes , elephants and other exotic animals on his estate in northwestern Colombia . When Escobar was killed in 1993 , the Colombian regime capture all of his assets , including his menagerie . Most of his animals were change to zoos and aquariums , but his four river horse were bequeath to fend for themselves . Those four animals made their way into Colombia ’s waterway , where they multiplied .
An estimated 80 hippopotamus now inhabit the river meshwork near Medellín , Colombia , where Escobar ’s Hacienda Nápoles estate was located , Live Science reportedin October 2021 . Wildlife official in Colombia began sterilizing the hippos in 2021 , because this invasive population place a threat to the biotic community , in that the monolithic animate being on occasion trample harvest and accusation at humans . The hippos also threaten native wildlife population and their mien degrades the local ecosystem , as each individual hippo bolt down dozens of pounds of botany a night and generatesformidable quantities of poop .
However , many Colombians have get fond of the uninvited hoofed mammal and vehemently counterbalance their removal . Some scientists , though , reverence that the fauna ' continued bearing could have unintended event . " The risk to native species — such asmanatees , turtleneck and fish — is high , and the environmental effect is irregular , " Nelson Aranguren - Riaño , biologist at Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia , said in astatement .
Hippos have big teeth. Don’t mess with them.
Additional resources and readings
Bibliography
AFP . ( 2014 , November 19).Thirteen people , including 12 children , killed in Hippopotamus attack . ABC News . Retrieved February 4 , 2022 , fromhttps://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-17/hippopotamus-attack-kills-13-in-boat-in-niger/5904646
African Wildlife Foundation . ( n.d.).Hippopotamus . African Wildlife Foundation . Retrieved February 4 , 2022 , fromhttps://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/hippopotamus
BBC . ( 2016 , June 15).What are the human race ’s deadliest animals?BBC News . Retrieved February 4 , 2022 , fromhttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-36320744
Dudley , J. P. , Hang’Ombe , B. M. , Leendertz , F. H. , Dorward , L. J. , Castro , J. , Subalusky , A. L. , & Clauss , M. ( 2015 ) . Carnivory in the rough-cut Hippopotamus amphibius Hippopotamus amphibius : implication for the ecology and epidemiology of anthrax in African landscapes . Mammal Review,46(3 ) , 191–203.https://doi.org/10.1111 / mam.12056
IUCN . ( n.d.).Hippopotamus . IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . retrieve February 4 , 2022 , fromhttp://www.iucnredlist.org/details/10103/0
National Geographic . ( n.d.).Hippopotamus : National Geographic . National Geographic . recover February 4 , 2022 , fromhttps://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/hippopotamus
Public Broadcasting Service . ( 2020 , July 9).Hippo fact sheet . PBS . call up February 11 , 2022 , fromhttps://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/blog/hippo-fact-sheet/
San Diego Zoo . ( n.d.).Hippo . San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Animals and works . retrieve February 4 , 2022 , fromhttps://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/hippo
San Diego Zoo . ( n.d.).Pygmy hippopotamus . San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Animals and Plants . Retrieved February 4 , 2022 , fromhttps://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/pygmy-hippopotamus
UC San Diego . ( 2018 , April 26).A drug lord and the mankind ’s large invasive animal . UC San Diego News Center . Retrieved February 4 , 2022 , fromhttps://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/feature/a-drug-lord-and-the-worlds-largest-invasive-animal
This article was last update on Feb. 14 , 2022 by Live Science stave writer Nicoletta Lanese . Live Science contributor Annie Roth also give reporting .
in the beginning published on Live Science .
